Analyst Update: Under Armour, SAGE Therapeutics, Stratasys

Analysts are weighing in on athletic apparel maker Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), biopharmaceutical stock SAGE Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SAGE), and 3-D printing specialist Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on UA, SAGE, and SSYS.

• While a number of retail stocks are smarting, UA has soared 3.5% to trade at $38.58, after the company announced a record 15-year, $280-million apparel deal with UCLA. Suffice it to say, the news is overshadowing a price-target cut to $43 from $45 at J.P. Morgan Securities. Yet, Under Armour, Inc remains a long-term technical laggard, down 29.5% since topping out at an all-time high of $54.70 in mid-September. The stock's losses have been exacerbated by the departure of key executives in recent weeks. A capitulation among bullish brokerage firms could trigger another round of losses, too, as 15 of 27 analysts rate UA a "strong buy."
  
  
• SAGE has sunk nearly 9% at $29.82, after Chardan Capital started coverage with a "sell" rating. It's hard to blame the brokerage firm for its skepticism, considering the stock has lost more than 58% of its value on a year-over-year basis. While short interest plunged 14.3% during the last two reporting periods, 16.4% of SAGE Therapeutics Inc's float is still sold short. At SAGE's typical trading levels, it would take roughly two weeks to cover these bearish bets.
  
  
• SSYS has jumped 8.3% to trade at $22.15, following an "outperform" initiation at FBR & Co. This is a relatively rare round of upbeat brokerage attention, given that almost two-thirds of analysts tracking Stratasys, Ltd. have doled out a "hold" or worse recommendation. Options traders have also been buying to open puts over calls at an extreme rate of late. Specifically, the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.85 across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) marks a 12-month high. Technically speaking, SSYS has been unimpressive (today's gains notwithstanding), and has underperformed the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 20 percentage points in the last month.

For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: Microsoft Corporation, Archer Daniels Midland Company, and Western Digital Corp and Analyst Downgrades: Twitter Inc, Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc, and Trina Solar Limited.